Intertwined
by thatgirltherec
Summary: A tired, twenty-year-old Tori Vega wanders into a bar and suddenly she has to deal with the demons that have haunted her for the past few years. Changed to M for later chapters as it's pretty dark. Touches on drugs and rape/abuse please don't read if sensitive
1. Chapter 1

**A/N I came up with this concept last night when I couldn't sleep. I'm so excited and so far I am pretty happy with it. It's pretty dark but I hope you all like it.**

A tired, twenty-year-old Tori Vega is walking the streets of New York. It's 2am and she couldn't sleep. She always struggles to fall asleep, she finds it difficult to stop her brain from going 100 miles per hour and then, when she does it decides to slip in to the darkest caverns of the things that haunt her; some are so stupid like when she called a teacher mom, others are more sinister.

Tori is in New York for work. She has an acting job in the morning, having given up on catching much sleep she just hopes the makeup team can cover the black bags under her eyes that somehow always seem to be getting darker.

The New York streets are surprisingly well lit but there is a mist that's engulfing the buildings so Tori can only see about 20 feet in front of her. It's a cold winter's night. Tori's bundled up in layers of jumpers, a hat, scarf, gloves etc. but somehow, she still feels cold. She has -to her surprise- met many other people roaming the streets also unable to sleep she assumes.

Along her way, Tori takes a few wrong turns, she doesn't notice at first but soon she hears more going on; men laughing, talking, shouting and then women screaming. Fear consumes her, where is she? Her thoughts are racing as she pulls out her phone to check on GPS. It's dead.

'Great!' She groans in annoyance.

She quickly decides it would be best for her to keep moving because she had absolutely no idea where she was and therefore had no idea how dangerous it would be to stand around alone. Her feet kept moving as she kept glancing over her shoulder to check for potential attackers. After God knows how long Tori had almost resigned herself to wandering aimlessly until day break when through the mist, she saw a lit-up building.

As Tori approaches the building she hears music coming out of the windows and doors. She's sure it's a bar. It was better than nothing she supposes and she's exhausted so she decides to go in even if it's just for a few minutes to heat up and rest her legs.

The bar stinks of smoke, whiskey and vomit; a revolting combination. Much of the bar is taken up by old sleazy men, the others are women who to Tori seem much older but she has an inclination that they aren't much older than her. She walks straight to the bathroom to freshen up, hoping to see something better in there.

As she pushes the door open she has an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. There is a girl in the bathroom rummaging through a tatty, beaten bag. Her bleached blonde hair is matted and damaged beyond repair, her skin so white and she's so skinny Tori's worried she'll snap. The girl obviously feels Tori's eyes on her as she looks around abruptly and as she looks up Tori recognises the harsh blue eyes, she'd spot them anywhere; she'd been looking for them everywhere.

'…Tori? What the hell are you doing here?'

'Well I could ask you the exact same question.'


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Sorry about the wait but here are two chapters, hope you enjoy**

Jade was taken back. Prissy little Tori was in this dump. Wasn't she meant to be an actor or something? It'd been years and although Jade had tried to keep track of her old friends she struggled mostly because of her lack of internet access for the past few years.

Jade realized people change but she was sure something was off about Tori, maybe the fact that she was in an old beaten-up bar in New York at 3am. Tori's eyes had dark bags underneath them and her once glowing skin seemed dull, the spark in her dark eyes had died; she seems much older than…how old is she twenty? Jade notices Tori's crying, her face is blank but there are tears streaming down it.

Tori couldn't believe it. Jade West. She found her, after all that time she'd given up hope; they all had. Jade had taken off a month before graduation, the gang thought at first it was some stupid stunt but as the days turned to weeks and the weeks turned to months, they were sure it wasn't. They spent their nights searching for her, all around LA. They didn't realize how much they'd miss her but they missed her more than she could imagine. She was the glue that held them all together, she was more like the weight that kept them from drifting off into different directions. Even though they weren't that close Tori took it pretty hard, maybe it was her fault? Maybe she'd said something?

Beck took it the hardest. His girlfriend of almost four years had disappeared without a trace. At first, he seemed to never sleep; he was always looking. He spent the full summer searching. Then as they were all meant to go to college together he gave up. The only ones that ended up going to college were Andre and Robbie. Cat, Tori and Beck had too much to think about. For the first-year Tori found herself at a loss, she got a part time job in a clothing store and spent the rest of her time watching movies in her room alone.

Tori can't put into words the relief she feels when she sees that familiar face. She just drinks it in. Time had made her memory slightly foggy and Jade had changed.

"Jadey?" a girl says in a shrill voice entering the toilet, breaking both girls from their spell, "Derek wants to know what's taking you so long… Who's this?"

"No one," Jade replies shaking her head, "Come on, lets go."

And with that they leave. Tori can't help but be annoyed at herself; after all these years she can't even manage to tell her how much she missed her, how much they all need her.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N this gets dark and touches on issues such as drugs and rape so if you're triggered please do not read**

Jade made her way out to the bar. The man that was waiting on her, Derek is a sleazy guy in his late 30s and time has not been kind to him. He smirked at her looking her up and down; she was his favourite, he always told her how much he loved her eyes. Jade new that her eyes were not actually his favourite asset of hers but was far too scared to point it out.

Jade greets him with a curt smile; she looks up at him from the ground briefly before letting her eyes return to the maroon and mustard flower pattern carpet. He wraps his arm around her waist and she closes her eyes; it always takes her back to that time.

She remembers it well. He took advantage of her. She thought she was tough; she thought no one would ever hurt her. He abused her trust among other things… He did it almost every day until she couldn't take it anymore; she had to go…

Somehow Jade found herself in New York. There she started sleeping rough; she met some girls who introduced her to Derek. Derek gave her a home and food; in return she worked for him. At least this way she was willing and she got something out of it unlike before.

It was her eighteenth birthday when he introduced her to drugs. He took her out and drove her to what seemed like a cliché make out spot in a teenage movie and they sat on the roof of his car. She was smoking a cigarette looking out at the view. Derek placed a hand on her thigh and as she looked up at him he was holding a small bag containing white powder.

From then on Jade was hooked. Drugs made her numb, they made her forget. She began to rely on them to get to sleep, get up in the morning and to get her though her 'work'. She was on a cocktail of drugs every single day.

Derek loved when Jade took drugs. She was so placid and dreamlike that he could do pretty much anything he wanted to her and she'd laugh or go along with it and Jade was his favourite girl. It made Jade feel ;in a twisted way special.

She licked her chapped lips, suddenly she became self-conscious. She was a wreck and she'd seen Tori. Tori that despite everything she had done to her in high school had stood by her and although Jade hated to admit it she would have given anything to be more like her. Jade reached a hand up and tried to brush it though her matted blonde hair suddenly very aware that her roots where an inch long. Upon inspecting her tights; she saw a selection of rips and ladders.

For the first time in years Jade cared about how she looked. She cared about how Tori saw her. For the first time in years she didn't feel so detached from her surroundings and her actions; she was looking at herself in a new light and hated the person she saw.

If only she had said something to Tori.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N Thanks for the positive response so far, I really appreciate it. I just wanted to say that although it isn't clear yet this story will involve all/most of the other victorious characters, the next chapter will be about Cat and what she's been up to in the past few years**

Tori felt alone. She'd felt alone for some time. In her head, she'd always pictured her reunion with Jade being full of tears of Joy, hugs and apologies. She certainly didn't expect that Jade would just walk away and brush her off as if they were strangers.

Tori combed out her hair with her fingers and wiped away her tears. She touched up her makeup and took a deep breath before walking back out to the bar.

It's quieter than before and she manages to get a seat at the bar. Tori orders a diet coke and sips it, taking in her surroundings. She spots Jade again with a guy who she presumes is Derek; he has his arm around her Waist. Jade however looks dazed. Tori hates to admit it but she's almost certain Jade's a drug addict or she's at least that she was on something. It breaks her heart to even think about what she's been doing for the last few years.

As Tori sits slowly sipping on her coke her mind races through all the possible terrible situations that could have led to Jade being like this. She'd always thought of Jade as strong and untouchable; never the type to turn to drugs.

She was taken out of her thoughts by raised voices. It's Derek; he was shouting at Jade and she was half shouting back.

"You stupid slut" Barks Derek.

Jade musters the last of her courage and slaps him; right on the face. Tori finds herself feeling relief; maybe the Jade she knew is in there somewhere.

Jade sees Derek raised his hand; she regretted slapping him instantly. As she flinched, bracing for him to hit her she heard a voice.

"Don't you even think about hitting her!" Tori yelled with confidence.

Derek lowered his hand and let out a low laugh of disbelief. Who the fuck would care about one of _his_ stupid sluts. He eyed Tori, the skinny 5'5" pretty-faced, little actress had her distinctive frown on her face as she tried to look as aggressive as possible. He never noticed the other men in the bar backing her up until one of them hit him square in the jaw.

Tori took her chance to grab Jade's arm and drag her out of the bar. Jade just went with it; she'd always wanted to be 'saved' by one of her friends; in her head, she'd always imagine one of them finding her and being outraged at how she was being treated but always managed to convince herself that it'd never happen; who would care that much about _her_? She had left them all behind with no explanation after all; they had most likely moved on with their lives, hadn't they?

The cold air hit both girls; neither of which were wearing jackets.

"Jade, do you want to stay at my hotel for the night. You don't have to…. It's just he seemed angry and I don't want him to hurt you.. you know. I'm sure he's normally really nice its just-" Tori rambled nervously

"Yeah.. whatever," Jade managed softly her head was pounding and Tori was being just as irritating if not more so as jade had remembered; she had absolutely no idea what she'd just agreed to all she could hear was her heart pounding in her ears.

"Do you know where I could find a phone to call a cab?" Tori asked.

"Around the corner." Jade murmured holding her head.

Tori linked arms with Jade and they walked slowly round to the payphone. Tori called the cab stopping to ask Jade where they were. Jade tried her hardest not to seem out of it but she could just feel Tori's eyes on her. The cab came and Jade could barely remember the last time she'd been in one. She never listened as Tori gave the name of the hotel she was staying at. The next thing Jade knew Tori was shaking her and telling her that she needed to get up as they were here.

Tori however was shocked at the whole situation and couldn't take her eyes off of Jade; scared that it was all a exhaustion induced hallucination. When they got to her hotel she woke Jade(well kind of) and they headed up to her suite. She guided the dazed Jade to her bed and tucked her in before grabbing a blanket and drifting off to sleep on the couch.


End file.
